The Woodlands pt. II ''Snakes at the inn''

Nisovin the Older and Marken were traveling back to the castle of Duke Archbald, to give him the water from the fountain of youth. They took a rest at the inn at the edge of the forrest when they saw a famillar face; Djurr, a cousin of Nisovin. He had been sent North by duke Archbald to see what was happening there, as there had been rumours about undeads.

While they were talking about the war against the undeads in the North, an unwelcome guest appeared out of the woods.

The next part is from the report by Nisovin:

''While we were talking and drinking some, I noticed something was moving out of the forrest. I looked up and saw it was Borcus Geirr, the horrific man exiled by you, Duke Archbald, ten years ago for slaughtering everyone in that inn. I informed Djurr and Marken, and told them to prepare for a fight, as it was clear Borcus wanted to have a fight with us, men of the man who exiled him.

Only then I noticed he wasn't alone; three sanguinary looking Wood snakes followed the tall man. We were surprised by this, because as you may know, Wood snakes can't be tamed acutually. We appeared them on guard, as the snakes have dangerous teeth, but it wasn't the snakes we had to fear most; one quick and mighty slash of Borcus' blade cut open the throat of Djurr. My cousin died instantly.

The snakes rushed towards his corps to fullfill their thirst for blood, forgetting about me and Marken. I managed to kill one, and so did Marken. Then Borcus tried to kill Marken, but Marken dodged his blade. Meanwhile I crushed the head of the remaining snake by stamping on it's head. The brains were all over my boots.
Borcus now was alone. He kept on fighting, but he couldn't deal with us both, and so he ran away, seriously injured, back into the woods.

  

We burned the dead snakes, and burried Djurr. Then we continued our way back to the castle. But we couldn't get one thing out of our minds; what is going on in the woods; first those Fampyres, which attacked in broad daylight, and now those Wood snakes which seemed to be controlled by an exile. There is something weird happening, that's for sure.'' 

The Woodlands pt. I ''Fountain of Youth''

The wife of Duke Archbald, who rules the woods and is living in the castle at the Crystal bay, is very sick since the detention of her daughter six months ago (more about this will follow). 
But since this week she got deathly ill. Duke Archbald knew just one thing which could heal her; water from the Fountain of Youth. This fountain was to the east, deep in the woods.

He did sent his loyal lieutenant Nisovin the Older and with him two of his strongest men to bring him this water.

Nisovin (L) and his men Gorod and Marken

The next part is from the report by Nisovin: 

''We didn't have any troubles during our trip to the fountain. We did see a lot animals though, which is weird, as they're most of the time very shy.

When we were almost at the fountain we saw something moving around it. We moved towards it as we didn't expect any attack by what ever it was.. That was thought wrong. Two creatures with pointy teeth - I believe they're called Fampyres - jumped forward out of the shadow. At this moment we regretted we didn't bring any weapons. One tried to bite my throad, but somehow I managed to put my hands at hís throad and strangle him.

The other one was scared, but not for long. He brought to mates and they attacked once more.
Again one tried to bite me, and a fight begun. I found a stone and knocked him out of this world.

At the same time Marken and Gorod were fighting their attackers. While I was helping Marken by killing his, Gorod got bitten by the third. After killing the creatures we tried to safe him, but he had lost too much blood already. He died in my arms.

At the fountain we found the leader of the herd of these creatures. We killed him quickly and filled our flasks with the water. On our way back we burried Gorod, and had a rest at an inn near the woods. We told this story, which surprised the people there. Usually Fampyres don't attack men, and not at all in broad daylight. Something is changing in the woods, good lord, mark my words.''